What An Extremely Awkward Moment
by Inkwing
Summary: The last 10 or 15 minutes of Episode Six through Stephen's eyes. Focusing on the HelenxStephen revelations. Those are the only reasons I had to label it 'T' by the way. R&R appreciated. OneShot.


**Disclaimer: **_I do not own any of the Primeval concepts or characters._

**A/N: _I just wondered how all the end-of-episode awkwardness would be seen by Stephen so erm, here it is. _**

What An Extremely Awkward Moment

He should be there with them. Not waiting around like a child waiting for their parents to check for cars. Stephen was more or less a man of action and just waiting around whilst others risked their lives didn't really agree with his nature. Especially when those people were friends. _Friends huh? Somehow I doubt Cutter would call you his 'friend' if he knew what you'd done. _Whispered a small voice in the back of his head. Stephen cursed it, with surprising venom and a fluency to shame most sailors, ever since Helen had appeared to him in the tunnel old memories - not nessecarily good ones - had been stirring. _I've put it behind me, _he argued back silently,_ To tell him now would only bring more pain. And he's got enough on his plate right now without having to worry about...other stuff. _Still, if Cutter did fail to make the return trip, pushing Lester into the Jurrasic Era might cheer him up a bit. Unfortunetly not even the thought of the goverment hatchet man being chased around by a T-Rexcould bring a smile to the man's face. A mark of the seriousness of the situation.

A Star Wars theme-tune ringtone shattered the fragile silence, breaking into Stephen's thoughts. He idily watched Connor answer the phone (who else's could it have been?) but began paying attention only when the cheery grin vanished from the student's face.

"What is it?" He asked, rising from the tree stump he'd been perched on.

Connor ignored him, asking the other end to confirm something. Judging by his tone, something was wrong.

"Connor, give me the phone." He ordered, the innocent curiosity gone from his voice, replaced with a firm needing to know what was going on.

Instead of following this request, Connor flipped the lid shut, turning to his companions with a worried expression.

"The Lab?" Stephen hazarded a guess as Abby approached the pair.

"Yep. Bad news. They said the autopsy proves, beyond a doubt, that the creature was a male." Connor delivered the information with a grim face as they realised the impacts of the discovery.

"It can't be! It was nurturing it's young." Argued Stephen, looking for a way out.

Connor offered one, "Maybe that's the boy's job in this species?"

The suggestion was a hopeful one but the trio knew it wasn't true.

Stephen sighed, "It'd better be, or else the mother is still out there."

As they all glanced towards the treeline uneasily the Ocilliscope on the table began to beep. Still un-noticed it's pace quickened with every second; something was coming. A flash of grey zipped past and the anomally glowed more vibrantly for a second. Exactly like it had when the team had entered earlier...

Stephen was the first to look around, just in time to see the anomally brighten. A worried look fluttered across his face as his brain instantly worked through the possibilities. After Connor and Abby, Claudia was the next to notice,

"What happened?" She asked, unable to keep the fear from her voice.

Stephen's answer was careful and slow, "Not sure..."

"What did you see?" She inquired nervously.

"Nothing."

Unfortunetly that word held more menace than comfort, they were all too aware that just because you couldn't _see_ the creature didn't mean it wasn't there.

"Is it...getting weaker then?" She prodded for some development.

Connor hastily pulled out his small golden compass and held it up to the anomally.

"Nope, it's as strong as ever." He concluded, frown growing.

"Then what happened?" Claudia asked, repeating her initial question. It hung in the air unanswered as they all reached the same conclusion. The conclusion no-one wanted to voice.

Stephen's head snapped up, the anomally was glowing once again. He warily moved forward, if the Future Predator had goen through this could be it exiting. The anxiousness dissapeared from his eyes as Cutter stepped back through, followed closely by Helen. He let out a relieved sigh but all was not well, judging by the look on Cutter's face something had gone terribly wrong. And where were the SAS members? Lester was the first to speak, voicing his thoughts.

"What happened? Did you find the anomally?" The man asked, folding his arms over his pinstripe suit.

"Captain Ryan didn't make it and his men are dead." Cutter revealed, the sadness clear in his face. "It's too dangerous, nobody goes through."

Stephen closed his eyes for a moment, poor Ryan. If the Future Predator had had anything to do with it his death couldn't have been fun. Another comrade down. Terrible. The rest of the team were involved in similar reactions, all wincing at the thought of the latest fatality. Helen broke into the sad silence with a disturbing indifference.

"Sorry to break your new rule so soon, Nick, but I'm not staying."

Cutter's voice was thick with annoyance, "Why bother coming back then?" he asked testily.

"Just some...um, unfinnished buisness." Her eyes found Stephen's as she stared pointedly at him.

There was a sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach as the conversation started sinking into dangerous waters. He risked a glance at Cutter and saw it was still occupied by greif, not enough, however, to remain completely unaware. Stephen's former Proffesor shot him a confused look and seemed surprised when the ex-student looked away guiltily.

"It's just, I was lonely and you didn't seem to care, and Stephen was so...sweet...and attentive-"She pushed harder for a reaction and got one.

"Shut up Helen." Stephen warned, still searching desperately for a way out. If she went back through the anomally now he might still be able to fudge it over. Unfortunetly he was having no such luck.

"Oh, you mean you didn't tell him?" Helen asked in mock surprise, "Oh dear."

She had to turn away to hide her smile. Stephen fixed his gaze on his shoes as Cutter looked down, wishing forcefully that an anomally would open up behind him so he could jump through. There was an uneasy silence as her words and their meaning made their way through to everyone's brain, Lester broke it.

"What an extremely awkward moment." He said accurately.

Damn Helen. She _knew_ he wouldn't have told Cutter, she _knew _this would be hurtful for both the friends. That's why she had done it of course. To pay Cutter back for kissing Claudia- who? The thought had come from nowhere. He didn't even know a Claudia. Stephen gave himself a slight shake, now was not the time. Helen had done it so he would be alienated from the group. But why?

"You see, I don't want to be on my own any more, Nick. It's never a good thing to fall for your students but...these things happen."

She had come tmo stand beside him but he felt no happieness that she wanted him. Once he would have been overjoyed but she had described Cutter as a cruel tyrant husband who paid her no more attention than to ask why dinner wasn't ready. Obviously once he had met Cutter for himself he had revised his opinion. They had become friends and soon after his relationship with Helen had dissolved. She had broken his heart by lying to him and without knowing it, pretty effectively messed up his trusting of everyone. He hadn't forgotten but it seemed she had. The most annoying thing was that even now, as she isolated him completely he still felt the tiniest spark of affection for her. He hated it how after all those years she could still mess him up in ways she didn't even know. Damn that stupid emotion we call love.

"You once said you'd do anything for me if I gave you the chance." Helen said, her voice loosing it's false regret and becoming colder. "Well here it is; come with me."

Even now she was messing with him, drawing up painful memories of his previous devotion. Thankfully none of those particular feelings were still with him.

"Don't do this."He said.

"How could you keep that from me?" Demanded Cutter, looking hurt, "For all those years!"

His face was what affected Stephen the most, not Helen's prodding, not the stunned silence of the team. The hurt look of betrayal plasterd across Cutter's face was enough to make him beg for forgiveness right here, right now.

"There was no point in saying anything. It was a long time ago. In the past."He tried desperately to explain, his eyes pleading with Cutter for him to see it his way.

"The past has a habit of coming back these days, doesn't it?" Reminded Helen, not to be left out.

With a last hurt glare at Stephen Cutter walked away. Stephen just stood there, mentally beratting himself. Had he expected forgivness? Of course Cutter wouldn't forgive him, he wouldn't forgive himself if there places had been switched. He had had an affair with his best friend's wife for God's sake, 'sorry' wasn't going to cut it this time.

"Coming?" Asked Helen, sounding for all the world as if she was suggesting a picnic and not that he leave his entire life behind to run away to the past with her.

If she thought, that after all this, he would just go away with her she had another thing coming. He half-grinned, half-grimanced, walking over to her.

"I'd forgotten somethign Helen." He informed her, searching for the right words to express the level of contempt he felt for her. Finding none he concluded, "You can be a real bitch sometimes." And walked away, back to the team, the people and the world he belonged in. Her expression gave him little satisfaction as she stormed back through the anomally into the Permian Era but with any luck they wouldn't see her for a while. Maybe, just maybe by that time he could patch things up with the rest of the team. Particularly Cutter. For now he thought it best to stay quiet for a while. To retreat back inside himself and gether his thoughts.

He was in the process of doign just that when Cutter suddenly and unexpectedly asked,

"Where's Claudia?"

Claudia again? The name that had slipped into his head of it's own accord a few minutes ago. What was it with that name? There was something connected to that name that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was like trying to remember a dream, the more you thought about it, the less you recalled.

"Who?" Asked Lester, obviously sharing none of his doubts.

"Claudia Brown. Where is she?" He repeated.

Claudia Brown of the Home Office, his brain told him. Stephen gave an unvolentary twitch. More surprising information...from himself. The two things seemd to go together but he couldn't for the life of him work out how he knew it.

"I don't know anyone of that name." Lester said bluntly, beginning to look faintly annoyed at his persistence.

Cutter's head snapped up. He was silent for a moment before giving a tense smile,

"No, really. Where is she?" He asked, almost seeming to wait for someone to shout, 'April Fool's' and pull this 'Claudia' from under their jacket.

Stephen decided to intervene.

"Really. We don't know who you're talking about. " He assured him, wondering all the same if that was exactly true.

Cutter looked from Stephen to Lester, the frown growing on his face.

"You've been working with her every day for...for months. Now don't tell me you don't know her!" Cutter said heatedly, glaring at them.

Lester shrugged,

"I'm sorry but I really don't know her." He stated, obviously intending to end the conversation.

Cutter was having none of it. He strode rapidly up to Lester, ignoring the black-clad SAS team raising their weapons, and grabbed the goverment official by the collar,

"WHERE IS SHE?" He hollered in Lester's face, all self-restraint gone.

Lester jerked back in surprise as Connor and Abby added,

"We don't know her, Cutter!"

"No-one does!"

Cutter backed away as if he'd been burnt,

"No...no. Something's changed, something's different. We've done something." He blabbered, like a madman.

Stephen wondered anxiously if his old friend had been effected by the anomally in some way. Was he insane? He really seemed to believe there was a Claudia person who was missing now. And he claimed they had been working together for months. Surely he'd know her, remember her, if it was true? _Maybe you did. _The voice in head pointed out, could it really just be coincidence that he had been thinking about a Claudia?

"We've changed something in the past and now she's not here." Cutter explained hurriedly, breaking into Stephen's musings.

Could it be true? Was it possible? Had they really wiped a person, an alledged friend, from existence with one false move in the Permian Era? Stephen searched for an alternate explaination. _Cutter's mad. All the time-travel has cracked him. _He reasoned. _Hasn't it?_

Behind Cutter the anomally fizzed, as if in agreement to Cutter's claims and then swirled. Stephen focused on the portal, all other thoughts suspended. What now? Cutter too was looking behind him, he turned back to the team as the anomally swelled and swivelled. This was new. Suddenly it grew, larger and brighter than ever. Cutter voiced all their thoughts,

"Oh my God."


End file.
